Diet Culture: What It Is, Examples, & Impacts

What Is Diet Culture?

Diet culture is a cultural belief system that values thinness and appearance over health and well-being. It involves the preoccupation with physical appearance coupled with adhering to “perfect” eating standards. Diet culture can include obsessive discussions about calorie limits, types of foods consumed, exercise expectations, and other methods used to lose weight.¹

How to Identify Diet Culture

Diet culture can be insidious, mainly because it is often associated with suggestions about optimal nutrition and disease prevention. However, it’s important to understand that diet culture extends beyond eating nourishing foods and taking care of one’s physical health. It can quickly become a consuming lifestyle that compromises one’s physical and emotional well-being.

Examples of diet culture include:

• Labeling foods as good or bad
• Exercising to “burn off” a specific amount of calories or to “earn a treat”
• Limiting or avoiding entire food groups for being “bad” (e.g., carbohydrates, dairy, sugar)
• Feeling guilt or shame for eating
• Attempting to suppress your appetite with caffeine, nicotine, skinny teas, or water
• Avoiding certain social situations to avoid eating
• Feeling unworthy or unattractive due to your body
• Weighing yourself and changing your behaviors based on the number on the scale
• Worshiping thinness and weight loss
• Assuming that your body is responsible for good or bad things happening
• Engaging in fat shaming, food shaming, or body shaming behaviors or talk
• Feeling envious of others for their weight or perceived self-control

Impact of Diet Culture

Experts indicate the impact of diet culture as negatively influencing self-esteem, body image, and eating behaviors. Studies show that chronic dieting is associated with distractibility, food rumination, fatigue, irritability, and overeating.² Physical risks are also associated with dieting, such as nutritional deficiencies, which can be particularly detrimental to children and adolescents.⁵

Laing states, “Feeling stigmatized for any reason can lead to stress, higher risks for chronic disease, and avoidance of healthcare—and weight stigma has been specifically linked to avoidance of exercise, inability to self-regulate appetite, mood and anxiety disorders, eating disorder symptoms, and even to all-cause mortality. What’s more, people who fall into the pattern of weight cycling, after attempting diet after restrictive diet, might end up gaining more weight than if they had never dieted at all.

Negative impacts of diet culture include:

Negative Body Image

Diet culture normalizes negative self-talk as a means of motivation to promote weight loss.¹ Negative self-talk contributes to poor body image, as the person begins to connect all of their worth to weight loss. Some examples of negative self-talk that promote negative body image include “fat talk”, where a person shames themselves or others for weight and food choices.¹ “Fat talk” can make a person feel embarrassed, frustrated, or disappointed in their appearance or behaviors and further connect these emotions to their lack of weight loss.

Increased Anxiety

Diet culture encourages a person to become hypervigilant about how they look, leading to increased anxiety around appearance. One study found that women who viewed advertisements glorifying the thin ideal reported increased self-objectification, weight-related anxiety, negative mood, and body dissatisfaction.⁹ The increased anxiety generally creates a hyperawareness around weight and appearance that fuels participation in diet culture, which long-term only reinforces the anxiety.

Risk of Body Dysmorphia

Diet culture contributes to the risk of body dysmorphia because it encourages a strong focus on appearance and negative body perceptions. Individuals who are diagnosed with body dysmorphia often present with a hyperfocus on certain parts of their body, perceiving flaws that other people do not see. Diet culture may encourage this perception of flaws, as it promotes using weight loss as a means to control negative body image.

Risk of Disordered Eating & Eating Disorders

While diet culture is not solely responsible for causing disordered eating and eating disorders, it can undoubtedly exacerbate these issues. Similarly, because so many young people are exposed to diet culture, they may be more susceptible to engaging in dangerous weight-loss tactics, which can trigger the development of bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, binge eating disorder, or otherwise specified feeding or eating disorder (OSFED).

Research shows that dieting, while common, can be harmful. For example, the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) reports that 35% of dieting becomes obsessive, and 20-25% of dieting measures turn into eating disorders.⁵

Distracts From Responsibilities & Relationships

Diet culture affects a person’s ability to focus at work or school, leading to problems fulfilling responsibilities. When someone becomes obsessive about dieting, they may focus more of their mental energy and attention on food preoccupations or fears of fatness. This can lead to increased distractibility or less capacity for fulfilling work and school tasks. For example, if someone is distracted by mentally preparing for their next meal during a work meeting, they may not be able to engage as well as other colleagues.

Diet culture can also affect a person’s relationships. Studies indicate that food restriction increases feelings of loneliness because of “food worries,” which take up an individual’s mental space and energy during social interactions.⁶ “Food worries” might involve worrying about the amount of food one is eating or whether what one is eating is different from others. These worries shift the meal from an experience of bonding to feelings of isolation and loneliness.

Promotes Fat Phobia

Diet culture promotes “fat talk,” indicative of fat-phobic beliefs.¹ Diet culture encourages people to use shame as a source of motivation, meaning that picking on people’s shape, weight, and food choices is encouraged.¹ “Fat talk” as it relates to fatphobia might present as talking about the number of calories in a food, shaming the size of certain body parts, or feeling comfortable diminishing someone’s worth or assigning negative personality traits based on someone’s appearance.¹

Physical Health Concerns

Diet culture promotes restrictive eating, which can lead to a host of physical health concerns. Nutritional deficiencies, specifically in iron and calcium, are common in restrictive diets and can be particularly dangerous for children and adolescents.⁵ Additionally, loss of bone density can occur due to restrictive diets.⁵ Also specific to children and adolescents, the lack of energy intake from food can lead to decreased growth during significant developmental periods.⁵

Increased Irritability & Fatigue

Studies indicate that daily mood is negatively affected when diet culture leads to restriction. A person might be more fatigued and irritable than if they were not engaging in diet culture.² Lack of food intake and preoccupation with appearance can make a person feel frustrated and exhausted before they even begin their daily tasks. If restriction persists, the person may feel caught in food and body image perceptions to the point where they are unable to participate in normal daily activities at work or school.

10 Tips on How to Resist Diet Culture

In a society that bombards people with numerous messages about body image and thinness, resisting diet culture can be tricky. That said, challenging the status quo can help you feel healthier and happier.

Here are ten tips to consider if you’re ready to say no to diet culture:

1. Reflect On How You Give Into Diet Culture

Almost everyone is a victim of diet culture. But if you want to resist it, you must be aware of its role in your life. Consider spending a week writing down the times you engage in diet-culture behavior. For example, note when you reject a specific food for being “unhealthy” or make an automatic assumption about someone over their size. The goal of this self-awareness exercise isn’t to judge yourself. Instead, it’s to increase your insight and recognize your diet culture triggers and patterns. Having this insight is paramount for making necessary changes.

Laing suggests, “Debunk the idea that thinner bodies are more disciplined, healthier, and more worthy of attention—you have no idea how ‘healthy’ someone is by just looking at them. Indicators such as blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels can improve in response to a health intervention regardless of changes in weight.”

2. Stop Labeling Foods or Behaviors

Try to avoid using words like cheat, treat, healthy, clean, or indulge. These words are emotionally charged and can create inherent messages about how and what you eat. Instead, aim to be more neutral. Food doesn’t have any moral value—it is simply a source of energy. As you learn to release these preconceived labels, food feels less powerful.

Laing says, “Appreciate that the concept of ‘health’ includes mental health and other aspects beyond body size. A positive relationship with food can have a positive impact on mental health. While nutrition is, of course, an important aspect of health, food should bring us together in ways that are also important to our wellbeing, such as connection, culture, satisfaction, and joy.”

3. Find Healthy Role Models

Try to limit exposing yourself to images that focus on an unrealistic beauty standard. To achieve this goal, you may need to cut down on social media or television consumption. Instead, try to find real-life people who inspire you, and don’t focus on how their bodies look. Instead, focus on the energy they radiate. How do they carry themselves throughout the day? How do they leave people feeling? What messages can you learn from them to implement in your own life?

4. Avoid Body-Bashing

When was the last time a friend told you that she loved how their legs looked? Or, that they felt so attractive in their new bathing suit? Chances are that this kind of self-praise has never happened. If it did, you might have even felt confused or judgmental by this action.

To resist diet culture, you need to resist body-bashing conversations. You can model this behavior by avoiding criticizing your body in front of others (and to yourself). For example, if a friend starts complaining about their appearance, you can validate their feelings but aim to shift the conversation gently—if they persist, it might be a sign of a toxic friend.

Chastain urges, “We can refuse to engage in, and push back against, negative body talk to help create a world where bodies of all sizes are celebrated. We can acknowledge that health isn’t an obligation, barometer of worthiness, or entirely within our control and focus on creating access and information, using paradigms like Fat Acceptance, Health at Every Size, and Intuitive Eating.”

5. Stop Engaging In Fad or Crash Diets

Weight loss is a staggering $72 billion industry, yet overwhelming research shows that weight-loss diets don’t work in the long term.^6,7 Fad or crash diets can adversely affect your metabolism and trigger more hunger, food obsession, and depressing thoughts. Instead, if you need to change your diet for medical reasons, consult a qualified physician or registered dietitian.

6. Try Intuitive Eating

Intuitive eating refers to listening to your body to guide you into how and what to eat. The premise is simple: follow your hunger cues, and you will eat the right foods in the right amounts. If you ever need to see intuitive eating in action, just watch a toddler throughout the day.

One day, they may love vegetables and fruits. Next, they might insist on only eating crackers and chicken. With intuitive eating, there is no right or wrong. Everything balances itself out.

Intuitive eating shuns disordered eating by largely avoiding food groups, calorie counts, and emotional eating. This practice can take time, especially since many people unknowingly engage in diet culture. You have to dedicate yourself to relearning your body’s needs and honoring them.

7. Embrace Meaningful Movement

Moving your body regularly is optimal for your overall health. But exercise shouldn’t be associated with punishment. It also shouldn’t be a qualifier, determining whether you eat- or what you eat that day.

Try to focus on building a positive relationship with your body. What kinds of activities feel good to you? How do you enjoy moving your body and honoring your strength? Hone in on listening to your body’s cues. If something really hurts, don’t keep pushing. Similarly, if you need to rest, listen to that message. Your body knows what it needs!

8. Make Life Goals That Aren’t Related to Your Body

Obtaining the “perfect body” shouldn’t be your life’s work! Even if you achieve specific body-related goals, such achievements are not synonymous with increased happiness. While it’s perfectly reasonable to value your health, spend time considering your other priorities—including strengthening relationships, participating in enjoyable hobbies, and engaging in meaningful work—and focus on pursuing them. Stop waiting to be a certain size to try new activities or commit to new goals. This is your life; stop waiting for it to begin!

9. Filter Your Social Media

Diet culture is ever-present on social media through curated and picture-perfect images. When people engage in diet culture, their social media feed is often filled with images glorifying thinness and shaming fatness. You can take control of your social media feed by following body-positive professionals who provide education and inspiration to look beyond thin idealization and fat-phobic culture. For example, you might follow body-positive therapists, educators, activists, doctors, or dieticians to diversify your feed.

10. Practice Body Neutrality

Body neutrality is the practice of objectively and nonjudgmentally relating to your body and its functions.⁸ Body neutrality practices can help you resist diet culture by developing a more neutral attitude toward the body that is flexible and mindful rather than rigid and judgmental.⁸ Body neutrality also promotes a focus on appreciating the body for its functions and developing self-worth, which is not characterized by appearance.⁸

You can attempt to practice body neutrality by practicing being inclusive of all bodies, noticing how your body image changes throughout the week, and acknowledging contributions to self-esteem not related to weight or shape, such as hobbies or friendships.⁸ Studies indicate focusing on mindfulness and acceptance of the body and what the body desires in terms of movement, food, and rest.⁸

When to Seek Professional Support

If diet culture is causing you or someone you love to feel anxious and depressed or to develop disordered eating patterns, you should seek professional support. It is especially important to seek help immediately at the first signs of an eating disorder because they are serious mental illnesses. Next to opioid overdoses, eating disorders are among the deadliest mental illnesses, with an individual dying every 52 minutes from related causes. In addition, over a quarter of people with eating disorders attempt suicide.⁴

An online therapist directory is a great way to find a therapist in your area who specializes in therapy for eating disorders, anxiety, and/or depression. Alternatively, an online therapy platform is a good option if you prefer to see a therapist from the comfort of your own home.

Take your time when choosing a therapist, because trusting your therapist is a essential part of therapy being successful. Asking for a consultation can be a great way to see if you feel comfortable speaking with the therapist, and can help you decide whether you want to move forward.